Houthi militias launched this week a new forced recruitment campaign in Yemen’s Ibb governorate as the group continued to suffer casualties in fierce battles with legitimate forces at several fronts.

Tribal sources told Asharq Al-Awsat on Sunday that Houthi leaders in Ibb have ordered militia officials in several directorates to launch the new recruitment campaign.

The sources confirmed that the militias also established field committees to implement the orders of their leaders.

“Houthi officials in the directorates of Yarim and al-Qafr have been ordered to recruit at least two members in every small village and to impose a fine on those who refuse to enroll,” they said.

Separately, residents in the directorate of al-Qafr in Ibb told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Houthi-appointed governor, Abdel Fattah Ghallab, has imposed financial royalties on people rejecting to join the insurgents.

“Every family that refuses to offer one of its members as a fighter would pay Houthis a sum of 50,000 riyals per person,” the residents said.

The Iran-backed militia also forced mosque preachers and Imams to mobilize new fighters, witnesses in several Ibb directorates said.

In Adeen city, residents said six mosques have been campaigning to promote Houthi sectarian ideologies.

A worshiper, who wished to remain anonymous, told the newspaper that prior to Friday prayers, the so-called Houthi cultural supervisor in the city of Adeen had ordered the mosque preacher to speak about the importance of pushing young residents to fight in militia ranks.

The Houthi campaigns came as hospitals in several areas of Ibb governorate have received dozens of casualties, who were duped by the militias to fight on several battlefronts.

- Asharq Al-Awsat